At the beginning of 2013 ESSP President Dirk Werquin and AENA Navigation Director Ignacio Gonzalez officially signed the EGNOS Working Agreement (EWA) as the first step for the implementation of EGNOS-based approach procedures at Spanish airports managed by AENA.

On October 17th, the first approach procedure based on EGNOS has been published at Santander airport, allowing aircraft to land at this airport with the aid of an LPV procedure.

LPV approach procedures offer enhanced vertical guidance provided by EGNOS, improving safety, accessibility and efficiency to operators, pilots and airports. EGNOS navigation service provides a cost effective alternative to ILS CAT I, offering similar performance without the need for infrastructure installation and maintenance, and it is free.

The Santander Airport had been chosen by AENA to be part of the GSA programme ACCEPTA - ACCeleration of the EGNOS adoDTion in the Aviation sector - which has helped to foster the different steps to finally publish the LPV procedure at this Spanish airport.

AENA is planning to publish new LPV procedures in Almeria, Valencia and Sevilla airports first semester of 2014.

LPV:LPV is a non-precision approach. It stands for Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance and typically takes you down to 200-250 ft decision height.

EGNOS:The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service, is a Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) that improves the accuracy and provides integrity to the GPS Signal over most of Europe.The EC owns and manages the EGNOS system. ESA is the EGNOS design agent under a delegation agreement with the EC. Similar services are provided in North America by the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), in Japan by the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS) and in India by the GAGAN System. Other similar Satellite Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) are under study or development in other regions of the world.It is Europe's first venture into satellite navigation and a major stepping-stone towards Galileo, Europe's own global satellite navigation system for the future.

AENA(Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea) is the Spanish public body that owns and operates the majority of airports in Spain, and is responsible for Air Traffic Control throughout Spain.

ESSPfounded in 2009 by the Air navigation services providers from France (DGAC/DSNA), Germany (DFS), Italy (ENAV)), Portugal (NAV-P), Spain (Aena), Switzerland (skyguide) and UK (NATS) to act as service Provider for the EGNOS system, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. ESSP has for mission the provision of the EGNOS Open Service (OS) and Safety of Life (SoL) Service compliant with ICAO SBAS standards and recommended practices throughout the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) Region and is also in charge of the provision of the EDAS Service (EGNOS Data Access Service).

GSAThe European GNSS Agency (GSA) manages public interests related to European GNSS programmes. The Agency's strategic objectives include the achievement of a fully operational GALILEO system, creating the world's leading satellite navigation system for civilian applications;